


love will set you free

by brbabe, ultraviolentae



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, High school crushes, M/M, Open Ending, Out and Proud, Religious Content, The gays are gayer during Pride, pride month, slightly but it's there - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 12:56:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15143540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brbabe/pseuds/brbabe, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultraviolentae/pseuds/ultraviolentae
Summary: For a long time, Donghyuck tried to move on from his high school first love, but things are easier said than done, and who would have thought they would meet again after three years in the middle of pride?





	love will set you free

**Author's Note:**

> So this was written on a whim, kind of. We saw a [cute tweet](https://twitter.com/JAMBIyutiful/status/1013053064188530689) and got inspired.  
> It's a great way to end pride month, we think. Enjoy. Happy pride.

Donghyuck trots down the street excitedly, ahead he could already see the colourful crowd and the chattering noises. It was his second time joining the pride parade, but he felt just as enthusiastic as if it was the first.

“Slow down!” Jeno pleads in the distance.

“Well? Walk faster, snails!” The boy turns around for a few seconds with a big goofy smile on his face before starting to run. Jeno and Jaemin exchange an exasperated look and quicken their pace so they wouldn’t lose Donghyuck who was already chatting with the guy selling drinks by the time they catch up onto him.

“Next time you run away from us we’re leaving you alone.” Jeno grumbles. Donghyuck, totally ignoring his friend’s threat, shoves his hand in front of Jeno’s face and smiles brightly.

“Yoon over here said he loved my nails, unlike someone.” He glares at his friends and goes back to looking at the stranger.

“Your nails look like they’re from a five year old.” Jaemin mumbles. “So obviously they’re going to look disgusting if you put black nail polish on them.”

“I think it looks badass.” The stranger, Yoon, butts in and smirks at Donghyuck who seems to melt at the compliment. Jeno cringes at his friend’s reaction, especially hard when a little giggle leaves Donghyuck’s lips. “Disgusting.” He pinches the cane of his nose and then shoots a fake smile at the stranger. “We’ll be leaving now, thank you for the water.” Donghyuck pouts excessively hard while being dragged by Jaemin away from Yoon who kept on waving till they vanished in the middle of the crowd.

“You really don’t want me to get any action today, uh?”

“That dude gave me bad vibes.” Jeno growls. “I mean, he literally lied to the extent of saying your child looking nails look… badass. Like, please.”

“You guys are assholes!” He snarls, then takes a deep breath. Donghyuck doesn't want to lose focus from the parade’s good energies so he shakes off Jeno’s teasing and squeezes himself in between the bodies in front of him.

Pride is so fascinating, the idea of being surrounded by people like him gives Donghyuck a sense of belonging that he rarely feels anywhere else. When he was younger, it felt weird to be different, or at least that’s how he thought he should feel. Like he was different, a misfit. Growing up feeling like that really took a toll on his self esteem but he had slowly built himself back up. He had gotten so caught up on his own thoughts that he hadn’t noticed that his friend’s had moved onto something totally different, and by that he meant they were quite literally sucking each other’s faces off right next to him. Disgustingly loud, in fact.

“Oh c’mon.” He cries out and bumps against them to break the two apart, failing miserably. “Fine then, fuck you guys.” Is all he says before walking as quickly away from the pair as possible.

Donghyuck hated the fact that whenever the three of them would hang out, those two somehow always ended up together while he third wheeled. Meanwhile, he never found anyone to have fun with. Especially when Jeno shooed them away whenever someone tried flirting with him. Again, it seemed he had lost himself in his thoughts. He hadn’t even noticed it until a loud noise woke him up, when Donghyuck looks up he could see a group of people that seemed to be… protesting?

He squints to get a better look at what actually was going on which turns out to be exactly the opposite of protesting. A big grin spreads across his face when he starts reading what the big posters and signs had written on them, and then tears started forming in his eyes with the overflowing emotions taking over him. **“I used to be a bible-banging homophobe sorry!!”** One of them read, he drifts his eyes and keeps reading the overflowing amount of messages in front of him. **“Jesus didn’t turn people away, neither do we.”** At this point, Donghyuck was already full on crying, tears running down his face like a waterfall. And then his world stops. Holding a sign saying **“Can we hug you?”** stood a boy, but not just any boy. A familiar boy, way too familiar for Donghyuck to not have noticed him.

He comes to a halt and gulps loudly, but before he could turn around and run for his dear life, the boy’s eyes lock with his.

“Hyuck?” He asks, eyes big. “I mean, Donghyuck, hi.” Donghyuck contemplates the idea of turning back on his heels and running away, but somehow, his feet seems to be glued to the ground. He has no way out. Mark Lee stands right there, in front of him, like some kind of dream − or nightmare − turn reality. His throat feels dry, but he opens his mouth anyways to try and say something.

“Mark.” Is all that he gets out, like the dumbass that he is. He swallows down thickly and tries his luck one more time. “Hi, Mark. What are you doing here?” He asks. Curiosity always got the best of him.

“My church organized this whole thing.” Mark shrugs. “We thought it would be a good idea, to do something nice for the community during this month. The event seemed to be the perfect opportunity.” Mark Lee looks so awkward standing there holding up a sign almost bigger than himself with a stupid little smile on his face like he knows what he’s doing to Donghyuck, talking about doing something for the community.

Donghyuck laughs. “Makes sense.” He says, “Your community has been giving us a hard time since forever.”

Mark ducks his head down in shame. “Yeah, sorry about that.” He scratches the back of his neck nervously and puts the sign down. “You look great.”

Donghyuck snorts. “I know.” and he does, he put on some effort in getting ready for the parade earlier, but he knows his eyeliner must be slightly smudged by now. Which, in his opinion, makes him look even better.

“You seem happier too. Since last time I saw you, I mean.”

Around them, the parade continues. Loud music, even louder random voices, people dancing and kissing, time didn’t stop for them to talk, but it sure felt like it. Somehow, Donghyuck’s feet brought them closer as if they moved on their own accord.

“You could say that.” He answers, “But it’s been a long time.” He doesn’t mean to sound accusing, but that’s the thing about Mark Lee, he keeps making Donghyuck feel − say − think things he shouldn’t feel, say or think.

Some time ago, Lee Donghyuck used to go to the same school as Mark did. It seemed like forever ago, but in reality it had only been just about three years since Mark had graduated and left for university. He still looked the same, though.

Donghyuck hated that the most, it was as if he had returned to the past. Even when he was younger, more naive and quite frankly, dumber, Donghyuck knew just how wrong it was to fall for the christian guy from the class above him. He felt like he was betraying himself whenever his heart would hammer in his chest at the sight of him even after Mark had walked away on him whenever he was being teased by his classmates for his sexuality.

It was all so wrong, but the heart wants what it wants, right? For a long time, Donghyuck tried to move on from his high school first love, but things are easier said than done and who would have thought they would meet again after three years in the middle of pride? That was the last place Donghyuck thought of finding Mark. Even if half of him wanted to keep blaming Mark for leaving him behind, even if he was still hurting, Donghyuck’s heart still skipped a beat just from seeing him.

“I want to apologize.” Mark’s voice pulls him back to the real world. “For everything I did, or, didn’t do, back then.” He sounds sincere, but this is Mark Lee, a boy who has a heart of gold, of course he sounds sincere, and of course he’s being a good person and apologizing for the only thing keeping Donghyuck anchored down. “I know it’s in the past and I can’t really turn back in time and do something for you, and we haven’t seen each other in a while, but this is what made me say yes to all this,” He gestures to the signs around him. “I didn’t think I would actually see you here, but I had hope. I had hope God would give me a chance to do things right for once.”

Donghyuck blinks away some treacherous tears.

“Mark…”

"No, let me talk.” Mark interrupts. “I’m sorry I let these people tease you for being who you are, and I’m sorry I was a coward that chose to run away instead of dealing with it. I’m not worthy of your friendship, but I would like you to know that if back then I was the person I am now, I would have protected you.”

“This is all very touching, but you have no idea how it hurt to know you weren’t there for me.”

“I don't have a proper excuse.” He says. “I was selfish and a coward and I saw you going through something I didn't want to go through myself, so i hid.”

_Wait._

Donghyuck is not dumb anymore, not like he used to be when younger, at least. He knows what Mark means. He knows what he is saying in between these lines. It’s sad to hear that, in a way. It’s sad to know Mark could have been that friend that knew what he was feeling, that was there for him when everybody else refused to do so. But, what was sadder was to know that Mark also had to deal with that turmoil of emotions by himself, maybe he had it even worse, for being so religious like he was − or is, Donghyuck doesn’t exactly know what happens to your beliefs once you realise you are one of the people they say God hates, since he had never believed in such things.

“Wait-” Donghyuck blinks a few times. “Mark-”

“Yeah.” That’s all he says. “It’s exactly what you’re thinking.”

They stare at each other without saying a word for what seemed to be the longest time until Mark gathers the courage to keep going. “I’m sorry I was a coward. Really, I was so scared of the consequences of admitting it. In fact, saying it out loud was the scariest thing ever back then. I just… couldn’t.”

Donghyuck can only look at him in awe. The sudden information smacked him right in the face like a tsunami wave, it was a lot to take in. It changed his whole view on his past, just like that, in a matter of  minutes.

“I wish…” He licks his lips and then bites on the bottom one to keep it from trembling. “You could’ve at least told me.”

“I couldn’t admit it to myself properly, Hyuck.” The nickname slips through so smoothly that Donghyuck himself doesn’t even notice it. “Took me so long, way too long. And by walking away when they’d tease you I turned into my worst enemy. I can’t say sorry enough, I don’t know if I can even make up for it. I’m just really glad it’s gotten better for you, at least it seems like it has.”

“Yeah.” He chuckles. “My friends are somewhere around here, making out and having the time of their life as we speak. They’re the best. Actually, the people I met in university are awesome and very open, so it’s great. Life is great right now.”

Mark smiles, so wide that it almost looks animated. “Oh God that… I’m really happy. And glad.” Donghyuck smiles softly back at him.

“I would’ve never guessed. You, out of all.” He snorts and Mark copies him. “I know it’s scary and that we all come to terms at different paces. But, if you had come out to me back then… Can't help but just wonder how different things would’ve gone, y’know?”

“Yeah.” He breathes out. “I think about that a lot.” Donghyuck drifts his eyes from Mark’s, it was all starting to get too intense for him to keep the eye contact. He needed to breathe. So he looks down at the sign still in Mark’s hands. **“Can we hug you?”** and smiles faintly before looking at Mark once more with a sudden burst of confidence.

“Well? Offer still stands?” Mark shoots him a puzzled look to which the other replies by pointing towards the sign.

“Oh.” He blinks back at him. “I mean of course it is.”

Neither of them move for a few seconds, the conversation was still hovering over their heads, but Donghyuck isn’t that small boy anymore, he grew up to be the version of himself he likes the most, so he strides over to Mark, hands shaking slightly although he refuses to give in to the nervousness.

He would be lying if he said he never thought about having Mark so close like this, he would be lying if he said he didn’t want to feel Mark’s arms around him. Even with the sun is shining in the corner of his eyes, and there is chaos around them, when Mark opens his arms Donghyuck finds his way to rest his head in between Mark’s shoulder and head, and it feels perfect. As if it was only them alone standing there.

Donghyuck always thought Mark’s embrace would feel good, and damn was he was more than right. Mark smelled good and he couldn’t help but discreetly inhale his scent. Or so he thought he was being discreet, turns out he wasn’t, because Mark giggles a little from the way Donghyuck breath tickles his neck.

Mark hugs him closer, like he is still apologizing for the past, and Donghyuck thinks he could get used to it, to the way Mark’s chest seems to feel like home. Sadly, the magical moment doesn’t last very long, for someone decides to poke fun at them somewhere behind Donghyuck.

“I can’t believe my own two eyes.” Jaemin shrieks.

“Oh my god.” He rolls his eyes and then glares at his friends. “Back off.”

“This one looks nice, so I’m not going to say shit.” Jeno puts his hands up in the air, surrendering. He looked drunk, didn’t take much analysing to figure that out. “Just wanted to find you to ask if you still want to go home with us.”

“Already?” He takes his phone out of his pocket, turns out two hours had already gone by. “Yeah sure, I’m going with you.”

Before he could follow behind the two, though, he feels something tug at his wrist. When he looks back and finds Mark’s puppy eyes, Donghyuck almost loses his self restraint and places a kiss right on Mark's lips.

“Can you please give me your number, at least?” He pleads and who was Donghyuck to say no to Mark Lee?

They hug again, just a little see you soon, and Donghyuck swears he feels Mark’s lips brush against his for a split second before they break apart. Then again, it might’ve just been his delusional mind. He sure hoped it wasn’t.

**Author's Note:**

> [ cc ](https://curiouscat.me/aquadons) ♡


End file.
